This is a great WKIP interview with Mike that starts out asking Mike about how God is part of his message.
Divine intervention
Mike replies by saying that his new memoir, “What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO” details “so many Divine interventions” and that “my faith is what kept me going all those years.” Mike actually had 14 near-death experiences, plus he was a cocaine addict for 20 years, and then a crack addict for nine years. So, “it was just miraculous” that he is still alive and was able to quit all of his addictions.
A drug dealers’ intervention
Mike actually had drug dealers do an intervention on him, which “wasn’t really normal.” They came to Mike and said, “We’re cutting you off. You’ve been awake for 14 days.” And, sure enough, when Mike went down to the streets of Minneapolis he couldn’t buy crack anywhere. When he came back upstairs, one of the dealers was waiting for him and asked, “How’d that work out for you?” He went on, saying, “You know, you’ve been telling us for years that MyPillow was just a platform for God and that you’re going to come back someday and help us all get out of this addiction lifestyle we’re leading. So, we’re not going to let you die on us.”
Mike’s addictions started in his childhood
Mike’s addictions started in his childhood. His parents divorced when he was seven years old in 1969 when divorce wasn’t common. Due to feelings of not fitting in, Mike developed a sense of unworthiness and later found that cocaine and other addictions could suppress these feelings.
So, Mike has seen in his life that addiction isn’t a disease. Instead, he believes that addiction comes from “fatherlessness, childhood wounds, and trauma” which “manifest into unworthiness and feelings of rejection” and similar emotions. Then, as he saw in his life, “people do drugs and other addictions to mask these pains.”
Is it boring?
Mike “had a friend of mine that came to me in 2008” that Mike calls “my equal, my hope.” His friend had been straight for four years and Mike had all sorts of questions to ask, starting with: “Is it boring?” to which his friend replied, “No man, it ain’t boring.”
How does an addict get help?
People are dying from opioid and other drug addictions. People need help, but where do they go? For one, Mike has been working on his Lindell Recovery Network for years and will be making it available soon. This is going to “get millions of addicts out of addiction.”
Meanwhile, there are people who have made it through addiction. If you ask them how, you’re “going to find out that 90% of the time or more, they went to a faith-based treatment center, such as Teen Challenge, Union Gospel, or the Salvation Army.” These treatment centers “give addicts a foundation” and “get their hearts restored,” while “giving addicts an understanding about why they were an addict in the first place.”
Mike emphasizes that “You can’t go to a better place than these faith-based centers, all of which have 80% success rates.”
Mike: reverse engineering sleep
Mike’s memoir talks about how Mike invented the MyPillow and then, after many failures, how he finally found success through his famous infomercials. Now, Mike’s ads are on TV “24/7” and he is promoting products that go beyond the original MyPillow, all helping people’s sleep. This includes bed toppers; soft, breathable Giza sheets; travel pillows; Roll & Go pillows; and even beds.
These products are all created by Mike who “reverse engineers what the problems are and then what solutions are needed for those problems.”
Mike’s book: a raw, authentic account by a man many thought would never rise above his serial, addiction-fueled failures
Mike’s book, What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO,” is “Far more than a “business memoir,” What Are the Odds? is a raw, authentic account by a man many thought would never rise above his serial, addiction-fueled failures. Mike’s gripping narrative transports readers from his small-town tavern with its colorful cast of “Regulars” to Mexico and a drug deal gone awry. From Las Vegas casinos, where Mike won and lost fortunes as a professional gambler, to a jail-cell beatdown. From failed rehabs to his 20-year marriage, an ideal union decimated by addiction. And finally, to the redemption of the most shameful moment of his life.”
And now you can get your own copy of What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO and read all the intriguing details.